Posted on 10 Oct 2023
China's production of crude stainless steel reversed down in September, snapping the continuous rise over the prior two months, with the total volume falling by 2.1% from August to reach 3.19 million tonnes, according to Mysteel's latest monthly survey among the country's 43 stainless producers.
Among the total, production of 200- and 300-series stainless both slipped by 3.3% from the prior month, while the volume of 400-series stainless increased by 5% on month, the survey results showed.
Stainless output among China's 43 mills in Sept (Unit: tonne)
Product | Sept | MoM(%) | YoY(%) |
200-series | 979,700 | -3.3% | 15.5% |
300-series | 1,691,500 | -3.3% | 20.1% |
400-series | 516,600 | 5.0% | 30.6% |
Total | 3,187,800 | -2.1% | 20.2% |
Source: Mysteel
The retreat in 200- and 300-series stainless output mainly reflected the fact that some domestic stainless mills conducted maintenance on their steelmaking facilities or slowed their production pace last month, given the depressed demand among stainless users, Mysteel Global learned.
Stainless inventories at traders' warehouses accumulated in September, traditionally a good month for stainless consumption in China, indicating the weakness of demand and putting more pressure on Chinese stainless producers.
As of September 28, total stainless stocks at the 42 warehouses in Wuxi and 25 warehouses in Foshan, China's two core stainless trading hubs, came in at 958,363 tonnes, higher by 69,782 tonnes compared with one month earlier, according to Mysteel's regular survey.
China's stainless prices lost ground in late September, with the spot price of 304/2B 2mm stainless cold-rolled coil in Wuxi under Mysteel's assessment reaching Yuan 15,750/tonne ($2,159/t) in-warehouse and including the 13% VAT as of September 28, lower by Yuan 250/t from the end of August.
Stainless output among the sampled mills is expected to decrease further this month to 3.13 million tonnes, down by another 1.7% on month, according to Mysteel's estimate.
For September, the combined output of crude stainless at the steel mills in Indonesia operated by Chinese makers Tsingshan Holding Group and Jiangsu Delong Nickel Industry Co registered 363,200 tonnes, down 8.1% on month, according to Mysteel's findings. Production this month is expected to edge down by another 0.1% on month to 363,000 tonnes.
Source:Mysteel Global
